But I kept seeing a commercial on late-night TV for a gadget that lets you grow tomatoes upside down. The idea is that rabbits won't eat them, water won't rot them and you can just hang the whole thing like a spider plant or something on the back deck.

I never go for those late-night TV gimmicks. You know how they tell you, "And if you call right now we'll throw in an extra tomato planter. But wait; if you really call right now, we'll send you our first-born child."

But one day I got to thinking that it might be fun for the wee ones who stop by my place to snag a tomato off Granny's deck. So I went to my computer and searched for upside-down tomato planters. You won't believe this, but everywhere I searched they were sold out. Sure, now when I really, really wanted one, they were gone.

So, I kept searching. Eventually I found a company through Amazon and placed an order. Of course, a day or two later I got an email informing me they were out of stock. So I forgot about it, bought two tomato plants and put them in pots on my deck.

I think it was Monday that Amazon sent me an email reporting my Felknor Ventures Topsy Turvy Upside-Down Tomato Planter was on its way to my house. Almost a month late, but what the heck. I suppose I could transplant one of those potted tomatoes.

Two days later, I was reading the Philadelphia Daily News online when I stumbled on an article that said QVC had recalled the Topsy-Turvey Deluxe Tomato Planters with Stand. Apparently, some of the 82,000 Chinese imports sold by QVC had fallen down and hurt people.

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